The poetical works of william wordsworth

It was a moral end for which they fought; Else how, when mighty Thrones were put to

shame, Could they, poor Shepherds, have preserved

an aim, A resolution, or enlivening thought? Nor hath that moral good been vainly sought; 5 For in their magnanimity and fame Powers have they left, an impulse, and a claim Which neither can be overturned nor bought. Sleep, Warriors, sleep! among your hills

repose! We know that ye, beneath the stern control 10 Of awful prudence, keep the unvanquished

Dread trials! yet encountered and sustained Till not a wreck of help or hope remained, And law was from necessity received.

1809.

XVII.

Say, what is Honour ?—'Tis the finest sense Of justice which the human mind can frame, Intent each lurking frailty to disclaim, And guard the way of life from all offence Suffered or done. When lawless violence 5 Invades a Realm, so pressed that in the scale Of perilous war her weightiest armies fail, Honour is hopeful elevation,—whence Glory, and triumph. Yet with politic skill Endangered States may yield to terms unjust; Stoop their proud heads, but not unto the dust— 11

A Foe's most favourite purpose to fulfil: Happy occasions oft by self-mistrust Are forfeited; but infamy doth kil1.

1809. (?)

XVIII.

The martial courage of a day is vain, An empty noise of death the battle's roar, If vital hope be wanting to restore, Or fortitude be wanting to sustain, Armies or kingdoms. We have heard a strain Of triumph, how the labouring Danube bore 6 A weight of hostile corses: drenched with gore Were the wide fields, the hamlets heaped with

slain. Yet see (the mighty tumult overpast) Austria a Daughter of her Throne hath sold! 10 And her Tyrolean Champion we behold Murdered, like one ashore by shipwreck cast,

Murdered without relief. Oh! blind as bold, To think that such assurance can stand fast!

1809. xrx.

Brave Schill! by death delivered, take thy

flight From Prussia's timid region. Go, and rest With heroes, 'mid the islands of the Blest, Or in the fields of empyrean light. A meteor wert thou crossing a dark night: 5 Yet shall thy name, conspicuous and sublime, Stand in the spacious firmament of time, Fixed as a star: such glory is thy right. Alas! it may not be: for earthly fame Is Fortune's frail dependant; yet there lives 10 A Judge, who, as man claims by merit, gives; To whose all-pondering mind a noble aim, Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed; In whose pure sight all virtue doth succeed.

1809. xx.

Call not the royal Swede unfortunate, Who never did to Fortune bend the knee; Who slighted fear; rejected stedfastly Temptation; and whose kingly name and state Have "perished by his choice, and not his

fate!" S

Hence lives He, to his inner self endeared; And hence, wherever virtue is revered, He sits a more exalted Potentate, Throned in the hearts of men. Should Heaven

ordain That this great Servant of a righteous cause 10 Must still have sad or vexing thoughts to

endure, Yet may a sympathising spirit pause,
Admonished by these truths, and quench all

pain In thankful joy and gratulation pure.1

1809.

XXI.

Look now on that Adventurer who hath paid His vows to Fortune; who, in cruel slight Of virtuous hope, of liberty, and right, Hath followed wberesoe'er a way was made By the blind Goddess,—ruthless, undismayed; And so hath gained at length a prosperous height, 6

Round which the elements of worldly might Beneath his haughty feet, like clouds, are laid. O joyless power that stands by lawless force! Curses are his dire portion, scorn, and hate, io Internal darkness and unquiet breath; And, if old judgments keep their sacred course, Him from that height shall Heaven precipitate By violent and ignominious death.

1809.

XXII.

Is there a power that can sustain and cheer The captive chieftain, by a tyrant's doom, Forced to descend into his destined tomb— A dungeon dark! where he must waste the

year, And he cut off from all his heart holds dear; 5 What time his injured country is a stage Whereon deliberate Valour and the rage Of righteous Vengeance side by side appear, Filling'from morn to night the heroic scene With deeds of hope and everlasting praise:— 10

1 See Note to Sonnet vii, page 130.

Say can ho think of this with mind serene And silent fetters? Yes, if visions bright Shine on his soul, reflected from the days When he himself was tried in open light.

1809.

XXIII.

1810.

Ah! where is Palafox? Nor tongue nor pen Reports of him, his dwelling or his grave! Does yet the unheard-of vessel ride the wave? Or is she swallowed up, remote from ken Of pitying human nature? Once again 5

Methinks that we shall hail thee, Champion

brave, Redeemed to baffle that imperial Slave, And through all Europe cheer desponding men With new-born hope. Unbounded is the might Of martyrdom, and fortitude, and right. 10 Hark, how thy Country triumphs!—Smilingly The Eternal looks upon her sword that gleams, Like his own lightning, over mountains high, On rampart, and the banks of all her streams.